Neighbourhood perceptions and residential mobility

Abstract

This paper considers the ways in which neighbourhood perceptions can differentially affect residential mobility, particularly in low-income areas. Given the long history of understanding the relationship between neighbourhood context and residential mobility, this study includes measures of satisfaction, safety, decay and neighbourly agency to understand mobility. Using data from the Making Connections Initiative, this paper uses a unique panel survey across neighbourhoods in 10 US cities undergoing spatial and/or demographic transitions to analyse the extent to which neighbourhood perceptions are associated with residential mobility. By employing a multilevel structural equation model, the study accounts for neighbourhood perceptions, neighbourhood demographics and mobility risk over time. The results show that perceptions of neighbourhood context matter more than the actual neighbourhood setting. These findings highlight the continued importance of subjective rather than objective measures of neighbourhood conditions in understanding residential mobility.

Family and Friends Living Nearby, Neighborhood Satisfaction, and Residential Mobility

“…A final broad implication of these findings is that individual-level characteristics are associated with neighborhood satisfaction and subsequent mobility in ways that tract-level characteristics (e.g., population size or residential turnover) are not. Consistent with Kasarda and Janowitz (1974) and more recent findings (Jones and Dantzler 2021), my findings suggest that individual-level characteristics and perceptions are stronger predictors of residential mobility than other neighborhood-level factors.…”

“…In this way, personal relationships can be seen as important facilitators of neighborhood satisfaction. As Mesch and Manor (1997:507) identified from the literature, “local social involvement, in particular with friends and kin, is the most consistent and significant cause of attachment to place.” And one common way researchers have operationalized place attachment has focused on people’s perceptions of the quality of their environment, that is, their neighborhood satisfaction (e.g., Jones and Dantzler 2021; Sharp and Warner 2018).…”

Inequalities in Skills at the End of Education

“…Other recent work also highlights the important role of perceptions. For example, Jones & Dantzler (2021) show that perceptions of different neighbourhoods in a city shape residential mobility.…”

Residential mobility, neighborhood cohesion, and depressive symptoms among urban‐dwelling African American adolescents

“…Perceptions themselves have been shown to be the link between neighborhood structural concerns measured through the census and adolescent outcomes (Plunkett et al, 2007). In a recent study, Jones and Dantzler (2021) found that in the context of residential mobility, perceptions of neighborhoods matter more in moving than the objective neighborhood setting. These findings highlight the importance of actual reported experiences and perceptions of neighborhood rather than assumed exposures with administrative data.…”